Issa Rae‘s Hoorae media company has expanded its ranks, hiring new executives Sarah Al-Qatou and Gaby McCormick, and announcing the promotion of Jax Clark.
All three executives will report to Sara Rastogi, EVP of development and production at Hoorae. News of the executive expansion comes as Hoorae celebrates the launch of the HBO Max series “Rap Sh!t,” created by Rae. The comedy — starring Aida Osman, KaMillion, Jonica Booth and RJ Cyler, with Syreeta Singleton as showrunner — debuts Thursday with its first two episodes. Rae wrote the pilot for the series.
Al-Qatou joins Hoorae as a creative executive in Hoorae’s film and TV department. Most recently, she worked with filmmaker Lulu Wang and producer Dani Melia under their banner Local Time and at independent financier Big Beach. The UCLA alum also worked in film acquisitions at Focus Features.
McCormick has been tapped as a director of development, joining Hoorae to focus on feature development and production. Most recently, she served as an executive at David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman’s Mandeville Films, where she oversaw projects including Disney’s “Chip N’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers,” “Amari and the Night Brothers,” “Voltron” and “Little Monsters.” After graduating from the University of Arizona, McCormick began her career at WME, working in both the motion picture talent and literary departments during her tenure at the agency. Before Mandeville, she worked in production and development at Universal Pictures.
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Clark is a Hoorae veteran, having joined the company in 2019, where she worked on seasons 4 and 5 of “Insecure” before she was promoted to creative executive. She has now been promoted to director of development, with her focus in TV development and production. Prior to signing on with Hoorae, the Harvard grad began her film and TV career by working at ColorForce, followed by New Regency.
Formerly known as Issa Rae Productions, Hoorae was reestablished and consolidated in 2020 to represent the multimedia reach of the company, which also includes Raedio, the record label and music supervision arm, and its sister company ColorCreative management. Hoorae’s slate of productions includes HBO’s “Insecure” and “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” both of which nabbed Emmy nominations earlier this month, as well as the HBO Max reality series “Sweet Life: Los Angeles,” with a second season forthcoming.
